


Bigger Fish in the Sea

by twofacedjanus



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Fluff, M/M, Merman Jim, Romance, Surfer Bones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-30
Updated: 2014-08-30
Packaged: 2018-02-15 08:18:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2222025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twofacedjanus/pseuds/twofacedjanus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a fine summer's day, Leonard has a surprise waiting for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [Orenjimaru’s Merman Jim art](http://orenjimaru.tumblr.com/post/93890233330/).

Leonard always loves coming down from the surfing high by floating on his board and dangling his legs in the water. Today’s no different – the sun is bright, the air is warm, the smell of brine refreshing. Sometimes when he sits on his board, floating along in the water, he felt something brush his leg and he usually chalked it up to seaweed or a small fish.

Today however he definitely feels something different. He jerks it away, trying to dislodge whatever has tried wrapping around his shin. A moment later, it returns and it’s definitely not a fish, or seaweed, or even a stray plastic bag. It feels like a hand trailing along his leg, and his blood runs cold as he looks over the edge.

Peering up at him from under the water is a man running his palm along Leonard’s leg, as if he were feeling his leg hair. Leonard yelps, startling the man, who darts off like a jet through the water. He pulls his legs back up onto the surfboard and hugs them to his chest, spooked from the mysterious man.

Who the hell would hide under the waves to scare someone like that? The only discriminating feature Leonard had seen was the shock of golden hair – he thought it was golden anyway, it was difficult to tell through the blue waves of seawater. 

How had he swam off so quickly, anyway? 

Leonard looks around to find the man on the beach or in the water nearby, expecting the cacophonous laughter of some belligerent teen set on giving Leonard a coronary infarction, but none were to be seen that had bright blond hair. 

Maybe he’d imagined it. Yeah, that was probably it. 

After his heart rate normalizes and the tension in his shoulders bleeds away, he lets his legs stretch over the length of the surfboard, precariously balancing on the gently cresting waves. 

That is, until he hears the telltale sound of someone resurfacing. 

To his left he sees a hand pop out of the water and wave to him. He looks in the water to see who it is. Floating under the waves and looking at Leonard is a lithe, muscular man – he looks to be only a few years younger than Leonard – the upper half of him as sun-kissed and tanned as Leonard, his golden hair floating free in the waves. The swimsuit he’s wearing is oddly form-fitting and—

His eyes widen – that isn’t a man, that’s a mermaid! Merman – whatever. His lower half is a beautiful blue-scaled fish-like fin, though now that he’s looking more carefully, the scales extend further up his torso. He has more fins protruding from his waist – where it would be if he were human, anyway. He can’t believe what he’s seeing – this has to be some practical joke.

Leonard tries to stay calm as the mysterious merman – no, he’s just a man, it can’t be a merman – approaches under the waves, and a hand reaches out of the water for his leg and—

Just holds on for a moment. He – he strokes down his shin, almost exploratory, Leonard thinks. He doesn’t seem hostile, so Leonard takes a risk and lets his leg rest over the edge, cool water a stark contrast to the heat of the sun beating down on his bare torso.

He watches the figure underwater runs his hands all over his leg, like he’s never seen a human leg before – or maybe never seen body hair before. His hands run up and down Leonard’s leg like he’s caressing him, and Leonard shivers under such a gentle touch. The figure seems enamored with Leonard’s limb, face up close to inspect the hair and contour of thick muscle.

Blue eyes look up at him and the world stops – they’re the most radiant, captivating blue he’s ever seen, and they’re trained on him, looking into his, appraising him. 

Suddenly the merman’s hands leave his leg and Leonard laments the loss, but then that same hand is reaching out of the water and resting over his, just for a few seconds. He sees sparse blue scales on the back of the hand before it slowly retreats back into the waves and the figure swims off for deeper waters.

A merman. A  _merman_  touched him, almost reverently even. What does a guy do with that experience?

Leonard sits on his board for far longer than he probably should have, sunscreen permitting, waiting for the merman to return, but no supernatural creature ever comes.

Sighing, he paddles back to shore and plods off for the crappy beach showers.


	2. Chapter 2

Over the next two weeks, Leonard returns to the same beach to surf, day after day. With school out and the weather good, the beach is packed with people without fail. Not a single day does he see the beautiful merman, though to be honest Leonard is trying not to think too hard about it, lest he be too distracted and wipe out.

After the tenth day of no contact, he tries a different approach – a nearby cove notorious for rocky shores and zero visitors is his destination. It’s a good half hour trek to the water from the parking lot and he nearly slips on algae-covered boulders more times than he can count. Once he actually gets there, he strips down to his swimsuit and paddles out onto the water on his surfboard.

It’s a nice day – the sun is shining, the waves are calm, it’s not particularly muggy – Leonard could actually sit out there for a while and be content to laze on the buoyant fiberglass, his legs hanging over the side in the water. His eyes are closed and he’s leaning back with his weight on his arms, enjoying the warmth on his face and body when he hears a splash. He looks around and spots the merman (he’s going to need to come up with a better name than ‘the merman’) under the waves.

The creature swims up to Leonard and circles around him for a bit, then disappears under the board. Leonard feels the gentle stroke of a scaly hand down his calf. Suddenly the merman is shooting up out of the water and splashing onto Leonard’s board, spraying water everywhere and getting him soaking wet. He couldn’t find it in himself to care much because  _he showed up_.

The merman is even more beautiful up close. He’s all perfectly tanned skin and bright golden hair, eyes a gorgeous blue the same color as his scales and the ocean itself. A coy smile is curling his lips up and he stares right into Leonard’s eyes.

He feels on the spot under the gaze of this beautiful man – merman – and stays still, wanting to see what the creature does. He looks Leonard up and down, now more free to explore how he looks without fear of onlookers. A blue-scaled hand wanders toward his thigh and trails along the leg hair, then he glances up to Leonard’s chest where a denser pelt coats him. Leonard had been thinking of shaving it off—

—but then the merman is leaning forward and putting a hand to his chest and carding through the fur. He shivers under the warm caress and he gets a soft smile.

Leonard lets him do what he pleases, which is to run his hand up and down his belly, following the trail of hair and smiling even wider when he starts twisting it into wet strands. He’s absolutely enamored with the hair covering him and seems perfectly content to pet his furry tummy and pecs, following the contours of his barely-visible muscle with the tips of his fingers.

Leonard himself is more than happy to let the scaly hands wander over him as long as it remains gentle. It feels like a loss when he pulls away, but then he’s picking up Leonard’s arm to look at it more closely. Those gorgeous blue eyes wander over him while he plays with the brown hair coating his arms – Leonard notices not a single hair is anywhere on the merman’s body other than his head.

He pulls Leonard in – lightly, by the arm – and moves Leonard’s hand to rest against his chest to touch some of his scales. They feel like he would have expected – scaly, wet, and a little warm. He can feel the beat of the creature’s heart under his palm and he scoots a bit closer. A wide, blue tail flops up onto the board between them and his hands are guided to touch that too, though it’s less scale and more webbing. 

Leonard feels almost honored that such a beautiful merman would let him touch him so… intimately. The merman might feel the same, though, given how he’s petting Leonard almost reverently. He’s touching him with more curiosity and wonder than his ex-wife did in bed before everything went to shit.

The merman gives his hands a squeeze, then flops over the side of the board into the water, darting off under the crests. He sits for a few minutes, taking in what happened, still in disbelief. A merman had seated himself on Leonard’s surfboard and allowed – no,  _invited_  – a very personal touch and returned something almost tender. No, definitely tender. He can still feel the lingering presence of the scales against his chest, his heart beating a tattoo against his rib cage where the creature had been touching him not a few minutes ago.

Another splash of water and he yelps when the largest halibut he’s ever seen is thrown onto his board, startling him and nearly causing him to fall into the water. He looks around and sees the figure under the waves, swimming artfully in a showy pattern. He picks up the slimy fish and, not knowing what else he could do, smiles and waves at the merman, who swims in an enthusiastic loop. What he thinks is a wide grin splits the merman’s face, and then he’s swimming out of the cove into the ocean again.

Why does he feel like he just accepted a mating display?

It takes some effort, but he gets the fish home and he swears it’s the best halibut he’s ever had in his entire life.


	3. Chapter 3

Leonard doesn’t make it back to the cove for a week or so, partly because of work, partly because he doesn’t want to come back empty-handed. Along with everything else, he has a cooler this time.

Once he’s paddled out to the middle of the cove, the cooler floating next to him and attached by a safety rope to the board, he waits.

It’s not quite as hot as it was the first few times he had been out looking for the merman, but still hot enough that he worried a bit for the contents of the cooler.

He doesn’t have to wait long: after maybe fifteen minutes of languidly floating on his board, he hears a loud splash to his left. He turns to see the merman gracefully jumping out of the water in an arc. It’s even more awe-inspiring than when he went whale watching.

The merman jumps up on his board again, soaking Leonard. Suddenly the merman’s tail is plastering against his back and pulling him closer as if every pretense of personal space has evaporated like shallow tide pools in the summer heat.

That was definitely a mating display he had accepted, because the creature’s hands have settled low against his waist in an obviously possessive manner and he’s giving him a sunny grin. Leonard smiles back and tentatively grips the merman’s shoulders.

"Um… Hi."

Of all the things Leonard could have said to a mystical, supernatural creature it had to be ‘hi.’ But then again, how else do you introduce yourself to something as otherworldly as a merman?

He doesn’t get a verbal response; instead the merman just keeps smiling, possibly waiting.

"Can you understand me?"

It’s probably the dumbest question he’s ever asked. Why would a hypothetical society of merpeople speak—

But then he’s nodding for Leonard.

"Can you speak?"

He shakes his head and pats the surface of the water with a hand.

"You want to swim?"

The merman shakes his head and pantomimes talking with one hand and pats the water again.

"Oh, you can only—" He starts nodding vigorously. "—speak underwater."

His hands wander to stroke up and down through Leonard’s belly hair. His soulful blue eyes search his face as if he’s cataloging every feature of him to commit to memory.

"My name is Leonard. Though, I like to go by Len."

The merman moves his lips and tongue, testing out his name. ‘Len,’ he mouths. His heart skips a beat when one of the hands playing with his chest fur moves up to caress his jaw. He’s been keeping his beard short and scruffy rather than remaining clean-shaven lately.

"What’s your name?"

He’s not sure why he asked, it’s not like he can hear it without taking a dunk, but then the creature himself is falling over the side, nearly capsizing him and making him yelp. Leonard figures he should join him, but he returns with a handful of mud and plops it on the board between them. The merman draws in the dirt a series of glyphs that are not of any language he’s ever seen. Part of it looks like jJïńm if you squint.

"I can’t read that, but… in English, this part," he gestures to it, feeling like a moron. "Looks like a name I’ve seen before. ‘Jim.’ Can I call you Jim?"

He holds his breath while the merman thinks, but then he’s nodding with a smile and wiping the mud away from the board. Leonard scoots closer again and puts his hands on Jim’s waist, right above a pair of... ventral fins? He can’t be bothered to remember the name of them right now.

Jim’s hands wander over his body again, playing with fur and caressing muscle. Leonard begins to stroke down Jim’s back, carefully avoiding his dorsal fin, until Jim is guiding a hand to cup his jaw. The scrape of stubble resists the caress of his palm – that hadn’t been there last time, had it?

He’s still in disbelief that a merman is being intimate with him. He’d had his fair share of one night stands, boyfriends, girlfriends, and his ex-wife but none could compare to this. Jim is powerful, lithe muscle covered in shimmering scales below his pectorals, and Leonard is both a little pudgy and covered in hair.

"I uh – I have something for you."

Jim curiously glances at the cooler floating next to them. Leonard pulls it in by the rubber rope and brings out a large rainbow trout kept chilled by ice that is now mostly liquid. Jim’s eyes widen in surprise and his mouth drops open into a little ‘o’.

"I don’t know if you’ve ever seen or – or had a freshwater fish but I—"

Jim pulls it out of his hands and carefully sets it back in the cooler, then grabs Leonard’s face and suddenly their lips are meeting.

_Holy shit, a merman is kissing me._

Quite passionately, actually. Jim’s lips are soft and warm, but taste of the sea as they try to devour his own. Teeth gently nibble at his lower lip and a tongue snakes out to meet Leonard’s. It’s obvious that this is not intended to be chaste.

Leonard moans into it as Jim’s arms wrap around him, pulling their bodies together. Jim’s enormous tail presses against his back, surrounding him in the embrace of his new friend – friend? Friends don’t kiss each other quite like this. It feels like his first kiss all over again – heated, hungry – but there’s an air of tenderness behind it he can’t process, not when he’s being kissed so ardently he’s barely able to breathe. The blood rushing to his cock isn’t helping. He can’t help but snake his arms low around Jim between two of his fins, holding them tightly together until there’s not a centimeter of space between them.

Apparently some gestures of affection are cross-species. Cross-cultural? Both.

He pulls away when he goes lightheaded and rests his chin over Jim’s shoulder, keeping them pressed together. Jim kisses his jaw instead, but doesn’t release him from his hug - even his tail is taking part in cradling Leonard to his body. He’s not sure how long they hug each other, but when Jim pulls away Leonard has to stop himself from reaching for the merman again.

Jim picks up the rainbow trout from the cooler and dives into the water, swimming out of the cove. Surely that isn’t goodbye, so Leonard sits and waits.

Every second without Jim there feels like an eternity. He brings a finger to his lips, still thinking of the kiss and smiling like a crushing teenager.

Not soon enough, Jim returns, splashing onto Leonard’s board again. This time he’s wearing a gorgeous hand-wrought necklace of seashells and shark teeth – serrated edges smoothed out, of course – strung together by some sort of string. Jim takes it off and carefully adorns Leonard with it, a hand lingering over his heart.

"Oh my god…" A lump catches in his throat as he looks down at the necklace of bright, colorful seashells and massive teeth painstakingly tied together. "This is for me? You made this for  _me_?”

Jim nods coyly, a wide grin threatening to tear his face in two.

"It’s beautiful," he whispers, tears threatening to spill over. "Thank you."

Jim shifts forward and gives him another kiss. This time it’s slower, and Leonard is able to enjoy the feeling of being utterly enveloped by Jim, hugged by his arms and fin. The loss of Jim feels much more profound now when he pulls away and looks at the sun. It’s hanging low in the sky and twilight is approaching.

"Can I see you again?"

Jim nods and brushes a hand over Leonard’s chest. He mouths the word ‘Len’ and then is swimming away.

Leonard has no idea how a relationship between a man and a merman would work, but now he really wants to try.


	4. Chapter 4

The first thing Leonard does when he gets a few days off from work is go to a sporting goods store. The diving section is thankfully well-stocked and it isn’t long until he finds the snorkels, but none of them really allow for talking – except for one.

He buys that one.

Once he’s back out on his board, floating with his mask, he waits.

He doesn’t have to wait long – soon enough, Jim is arcing through the water and splashing up onto the board, pulling Leonard into a tender hug with his fin. Leonard wraps around him like he can’t get close enough. When Jim kisses him it only hammers home how much he ached for the merman.

"I missed you," he murmurs to him. Jim smiles and Leonard swears he can see a blush.

The merman wraps around him tighter and brings him in to kiss more. He’s slow and soft, tender and warm, his wet body nearly surrounding Leonard’s. He loses track of how long they spend just holding each other and exchanging kisses. God he missed kissing. He missed kissing  _Jim_.

He sighs happily when Jim starts petting his chest to feel his heartbeat, combing his fingers through Leonard’s chest hair. It’s been a long time since he’s experienced such intense chemistry with anyone – and they haven’t even really talked about anything yet.

Which reminds him.

"I brought something new today."

He unhooks the mask out of the waistband of his shorts and slips it over his head.

"Can you still hear me?"

He echoes inside the helmet, quite loudly actually, but Jim is nodding and inspecting the helmet with a childlike curiosity. The ‘antenna’ at the top that lets him breathe while underwater is probably the funniest part of the bizarre contraption.

"Good."

Then he falls off the side of the board into the water, the chill of the ocean overtaking him immediately. He closes his eyes reflexively but the water never hits his face. Instead when he opens his eyes he’s given a crystal clear vision of the water and the seabed of the cove.

Jim swims up to him and lays his hands on his shoulders to keep him steady. As good a swimmer as Leonard is, he’s better at staying afloat than staying underwater.

"Can you still hear me?"

Jim nods to him, and then he’s caressing Leonard’s neck.

"Hi Len." God, his voice is like an angel’s. A muscular, golden-haired angel with fins and gills.

"Oh Jim, your voice – I could have heard it weeks ago and it still wouldn’t have been soon enough."

Jim blushes again and his tail brings Leonard closer.

"Can I – can I hear your real name?"

Jim tells him, though he’d never be able to write it down or repeat it. It’s melodious – almost playful, as much as a name could be. He wants to hear it again and again. He says as much and Jim indulges him until Leonard loses track of how many times he’s said it.

"I don’t think I could ever do your name justice. It’s a beautiful name, but can I just call you Jim?" He chuckles.

"You can call me whatever you wish." Jim laughs too, and it’s a gorgeous laugh, the sort that warms your heart and makes any day seem brighter. His voice is even more lovely than Leonard could have predicted.

"Um… now that we can talk, I don’t know what to talk about!"

Jim grins and his eyes crinkle. “Well how about… where do you live?”

"I live in San Francisco. It’s a big city, on a peninsula so there’s water on every side." Leonard doesn’t want to talk about his world, he wants to talk about Jim’s world. "What about you?"

Jim looks out to the ocean, a remorseful frown crossing his lips. “I can never tell you. I’m sorry.”

Well that’s awkward. “No uh… I’m sorry, I should have known your people would want to keep it secret.”

"It’s okay." Jim gave him a sunny grin and he couldn’t help but relax.

"Do you live with many others?"

"About elv dozen."

"Pardon?"

"About elv dozen others."

Is he losing his mind? “Elv? I’ve never heard that word.”

Jim holds up a scaly hand and counts phalanges on his fingers. “Three, six, nine,” for his first three fingers. “Ten, elv, doh,” for the last three phalanges.

"Oh!" Leonard smiles wide and Jim returns it with such ease it more than explains the crinkles around his eyes. "So you live with…" Elv times doh, Leonard. "About 120 others of your kind." Maybe.

Jim pauses but eventually nods, as if to say ‘something like that.’

"How old are you?"

"Seven-doh-two seasons."

"72 seasons?" At four seasons a year, that’s—wait, no, his math is different. 86? "Um… uh… 21 years old?"

Jim tilted his head, obviously as curious as Leonard was. “What is a ‘year’?”

"It’s four seasons." The most fascinating part of talking to Jim is definitely the cultural gap.

"How many seasons old are you, Len?" Jim runs his hand over Leonard’s chest again – he sure is fond of his body hair, but at least somebody is. Leonard had been telling himself for weeks to get it waxed, but Jim single-handedly made Leonard renege that decision. Now Jim playing with his full-bodied coat of fur sealed that deal.

"Uh… 110. Wait… nine…doh-two? I’m 27 years old."

Jim smiles and Leonard is sure he sees him blushing again. “You have been walking the land for many moons. You must be very wise.”

Leonard scratches at what hair he can reach around the back of his mask. “Less wise than I wish I was.”

They talk for what seems like hours. Leonard asks about Jim’s family and Jim asks about his – not an entirely happy subject, but Leonard obliges. Jim talks about his hobbies – he collects the nicest shells he can find – his favorite hunting targets, his favorite beaches around the coast.

Leonard wants to ask about the dance, the gift of fish, and the stunning necklace Jim made for him. He wants to know if it actually was a mating display, but he’s afraid of the answer. He’s not sure which would be worse: yes it was a mating display and they were paired, or no – it was just a cultural gift or something.

Then again, with how Jim is cradling his head and thumbing his cheek – with a gentleness Leonard had never been offered by anyone – while they kiss on Leonard’s board later, it’s hard to think that the answer is no.

Should he be scared or excited that it could be yes?

Jim looks at the sun setting over the water and locks eyes with Leonard – he’s frowning.

"You have to go, don’t you?" Leonard asked, his tone low and sad.

Jim nods, but curls around him in a full-body merman hug. Leonard hooks his arms and legs around him, trying to emulate the feeling of being enveloped by warmth and care for Jim. His heart clenches when Jim presses a long, salty kiss to his neck.

The loss of Jim between his arms when they part grows deeper every time he must leave. “I guess this is g’bye for now.”

Jim nods and gives him a final kiss, trails a hand down Leonard’s belly, and then flops off the board into the water, swimming into the distance.

He really wants it to be yes.


	5. Chapter 5

Weeks pass by like a blur. August becomes September before Leonard knows what happened. Leonard sees Jim as often as he can, neglecting actual surfing in lieu of visiting his merman… boyfriend? His merman.

A few weeks in to seeing Jim, Leonard had begun to bring books to the cove when Jim kept asking about his culture and what life on the earth was like. He’d read them, and when he’d finished, Jim would ask him questions underwater.

Today he’s bringing some poetry, a few picture books of autumn, and a few novels. The leaves will be turning soon and Leonard wants to share the beauty with Jim.

Once he gets to the ocean and strips to his swimsuit, he’s out on the shore, waiting for Jim to show up. When he does, however, he looks crestfallen. Leonard had only seen Jim in a poor mood a few times, but this time he looks despondent.

Leonard drops the book on the boulder and grabs his mask, then carefully walks into the water, mindful of rocks until he’s feet away from Jim.

"Jim? What’s wrong?"

Jim looks exhausted. The life usually invigorating him has ebbed away, his eyes usually bright and curious now filled with a silent despair, his permanent smile replaced with a tiny frown. Leonard falls to his knees, ignoring the sting of rocks and salt water, and pulls Jim into his arms. He gives Jim a soft, sweet kiss and strokes down his back. Jim curls into him, gripping him loose, as if his heart isn’t in it.

“I’m here, it’s okay. It’ll be okay.” He knows he can’t promise that – they live in two totally different worlds. Although it’s an odd and oft impractical relationship, it’s one he cares more for than most others he has. He says it anyway, hoping beyond hope it will comfort his merman lover. When Jim nuzzles into his neck, he hooks the mask over his face and walks them deeper into the water until they’re both fully submerged again. “Now tell me what’s wrong.”

Jim sighs, sounding more like a whimper. If Leonard didn’t know better he’d say his voice sounded wet, like he’s holding back sobs. “We’re migrating soon.”

The ocean suddenly feels a lot colder.

“You – what?” Leonard can hear how hollow his voice sounds, even underwater in the echoing mask.

“We migrate south to warmer waters every few moons.” Leonard has to strain to hear Jim over the sound of the waves. He sounds timid, dismal, defeated.

“Do you – you don’t want to go, do you?”

Jim shakes his head and refuses to meet Leonard’s gaze. “I don’t.”

“Do you have to?” Leonard knows he shouldn’t be asking that. At worst he comes across as selfish, wanting Jim all to himself, keeping him away from family and friends, at best concerned for Jim’s wishes.

“The oceans become too cold in the coming moons, I won’t… survive if I stay.”

Leonard’s the one holding back a whimper now. The thought of losing Jim somehow hurts more than when his ex-wife served him divorce papers. He reaches out and grips Jim to thumb at his biceps. “Why don’t you want to go?” He knows he sounds far too hopeful, but… dammit, the fish, the necklace, all of the time they spent together – the kissing, handholding, hugging. They can’t make love but he doesn’t even care because it’s  _Jim_. He’d go without sex for the rest of his life if it meant being with Jim.

Jim locks his sad, blue eyes with his and mumbles, “Why do you think?”

Leonard takes Jim between his arms again and hugs as tight as he can, and Jim grips him hard enough to nearly break skin with his claws. Leonard tries to burrow his face in Jim’s shoulder but the mask gets in the way. “Oh Jim…”

Leonard pulls away after what feels like an eternity of holding Jim. He strokes a hand down the merman’s jaw and Jim bites a lip. Leonard can feel tears threatening to spill down his face.

“How long until you leave?”

“About five sunrises.”

“That’s – oh god, I—” That isn’t enough time. It’ll never be enough time. “Can I see you tomorrow?”

“For you, anything. I’ll be here when the sun is half to the horizon, like always.”

“Okay.” It comes out far too weak, but Leonard’s beyond pride at this point. “I – I just – let’s go sit on the shore.”

Leonard and Jim sit where the water is midriff high, where Jim can return to the ocean with relative ease. Leonard wraps around him 'like an octopus’ – how Jim refers to it – holding him as tight and close as possible. Jim nuzzles into his chest and Leonard kisses his hair, cradling the merman against his body and trying not to think of how soon he’s leaving. They kiss for a time, pouring their hearts into it until the sun is setting, Leonard is cold, and Jim has to swim back home.

“Goodb—I’ll see you tomorrow, Jim.”

Jim clasps his hand and presses a kiss to the back before swimming off into the distance. When Leonard is back in his car and driving home, the sorrow hits him and he lets the tears flow.


	6. Chapter 6

Leonard is desperate. He  _knows_  he’s desperate, but he feels zero shame about it. He pulls string after string at work until he gets the remainder of the week off and the morning is spent furiously searching for costs of living in other countries south of the equator. The one problem is he has no idea where Jim would end up.

He buys some laminated maps.

When he shows up at the ocean, Jim is already there, moping on the seafloor — Leonard can hardly blame him, he did his fair share of moping the night before to a romantic comedy on TV with a bucket of brownie chunk chocolate ice cream.

Leonard wastes no time getting down to his swimsuit and wading into the ocean with his mask already on. When Jim notices him, he swims up to meet him and pulls Leonard into a tight hug.

“Oh Len…”

Leonard hugs him for a while, not caring if the ocean atlases are floating on the surface, drifting toward the shore.

“Um, so I was doing some research,” Leonard says as he reaches for the maps. “This is a map of the world’s oceans, and uh… I brought some others and… well, I was doing some budget stuff and I – I can move with you, Jim. Wherever you go I can go with you. Do you know where you’ll end up?”

Jim takes one of the maps and scrutinizes it, but his furrowed brow and repeated attempts to orient himself by spinning the map aren’t promising. “I don’t know where we are right now.”

“That’s right… here.” Leonard points to an arrow drawn in blue permanent marker.

“Oh.”

Jim spends the better part of half an hour studying the maps, but makes no progress in figuring out where he’s been.

“So have you found where you’re going?”

“I can’t tell where I’ve been by these maps. We never go to the same place twice.”

Leonard’s blood chills. “You mean I – you might not come back here next year?”

Jim shakes his head, refusing to meet Leonard’s eyes. He looks even sadder than he did yesterday, if that’s even possible.

“I might… never see you again.”

Jim nods, and Leonard feels horribly ill.

“But I – but – I barely had any time with you at all.”

“I know.”

“I’ll – I’ll go on a boat with you. I’ll buy a houseboat and—”

“What will you do about supplies? You can’t live on the ocean forever.”

“I – I – what about stopping at ports and – dammit, no I’ll need a job for that.”

Jim sighs and turns away from Leonard. They stay silent for a few minutes, the reality of the situation sinking in.

Leonard reaches out for Jim and grips his shoulder. “Please don’t leave.”

Jim doesn’t reply for a moment, looking out at the exit of the cove, shoulders slumped over. “You can’t ask that, Len.”

“Please don’t leave me,” he begs. It comes out as a sob and the tears fog up his mask.

“Len…”

“Please don’t leave me,” he rasps out as a harsh and desperate whisper.

“Len, I have to!” Jim spins to face him, his face contorted in despair. If anything could rip his heart out it’s the sight of Jim crying, but the water masks any tears he may be shedding perfectly.

He reaches out to grasp him by the shoulders and pull him in for a hug so tight that it threatens to break Jim’s rib cage. “Please stay,” he whispers, unsure if Jim could even hear him over the sound of the ocean.

Jim swims them to the shore so they can sit together. When Leonard takes off his foggy mask and drops it next to him, he can see that Jim is indeed crying, tears streaming down his face held in a grimace. Leonard curls around him and burrows into Jim’s neck, stroking down his back. Jim cards through his hair and kisses his neck.

Leonard shouldn’t say what he’s about to, but Jim can’t respond, can’t say anything that will break his heart even more. If Leonard doesn’t say it now, he’ll regret it for the rest of his days. “I haven’t known you for very long and… we can’t exactly have a normal relationship or… whatever this.”

Jim’s arms tighten around him. He knows saying this is only going to hurt more in the long run for both of them, but if he doesn’t…

“I don’t wanna go without you, Jim. I wish I could be a merman and follow you wherever you go, but I’m a human, and you’re not and… I’ve never hated that fact more than right now.”

Leonard feels Jim’s tears dripping onto his shoulder, but all he can do is stroke him as calmly as he can muster as water leaks down his cheeks as well.

“I love you Jim, I love you.”

Leonard hears a wheeze – he’s not really sure what it is, but if Jim can’t speak above water, it’s probably a dry sob. The tears come even faster than before and he can barely breathe from his own sorrow and how badly it hurts.

“I love you,” he chokes out, giving way to an ugly sniffle. “I just wanna be with you.” He’s gasping in breaths and heaving out words now and he’s glad Jim can’t respond. “I don’t care if – if you’re a merman and I’m a m—man, I love you.”

Jim huffs out silent sobs and Leonard cries without shame, tightly gripping each other as the waves beat against their bodies. When Leonard starts shivering and the sun is low in the sky, Jim detaches himself from Leonard. His eyes normally pristine blue are red-rimmed and his cheeks stained with tear tracks. Leonard probably looks no better.

“Can I see you again?”

Jim bites his lip and nods.

“Tomorrow?”

Jim nods again. Leonard cups his jaw and brings him in for a press of lips so tender and passionate the tears start again. He pours all of his love into it, as if a kiss could sustain Jim through the winter, as if it would give him something, anything that would let him stay with Jim. He kisses like a dying man being given a new lease on life, like he’ll suffocate if he doesn’t keep kissing the merman wrapped around him.

When they finally part, Jim stares at him for a few moments as if he’s memorizing how Leonard looks, then flaps his fin and darts backward into the ocean, and then he’s gone.

Leonard sits for what feels like hours, watching the waves and praying that Jim would return and tell him he can stay.


	7. Chapter 7

Leonard is just as desperate when he gets home that evening, but none of it pays off. The cost of living on a houseboat would be extraordinarily high, from gas and food and various other maintenance costs.

Moving to any other country on the planet is prohibitively expensive, and keeping Jim in his house would be tantamount to imprisonment (not to mention the cost of putting in a pool and keeping it salted and clean, and Leonard isn’t really sure why he even entertained that idea for more than a few seconds).

Eventually he gives up and lays down on his bed, slipping into a dreamless and restless slumber.

The next day is unfortunately dreary, the sky filled with clouds threatening to burst at the seams and dump their payloads of water over San Francisco. Leonard doesn’t care, especially not if he can still see Jim.

He heads into the cove early despite the omen of dark clouds above. When he reaches the rocky shore, he hears a crack of thunder in the distance. He brought a waterproof coat and a wetsuit just in case – he’ll be damned if a little rain is going to stop him from spending time with Jim on one of the last days he’ll ever see him.

When he gets to the cove, Jim is nowhere to be seen, but someone else is. They’re sitting on the shore, waist-deep in water with their back turned to Leonard and their head hung low. Dammit, Jim will never show up with someone else here.

Leonard takes off his clothing until he’s down to his swimsuit, then starts walking toward them when he hears a pained groan. Are they injured? Leonard grabs his coat – whoever it is may be hypothermic if they’ve been in the water for long. When he’s only a few feet away, whoever it is groans again when they try to stand, and Leonard realizes they’re completely naked.

“Sir, are you hurt?”

Leonard notices the man – from this close he can definitely tell it is a man – has dirty blond hair, but he refocuses his attention when the man groans in pain again.

“Here, let me help.” He offers his hand and they gratefully take it. Once he’s on wobbly legs, Leonard wraps him up in the coat to preserve his dignity.

“Thanks,” says a voice all too familiar. But that can’t—

“Jim?”

Despite his best efforts to keep him standing, Jim falls onto his ass again, dunking Leonard’s coat with him – at least it’s  _completely_  waterproof. “Ow!” Jim cries in pain. “Hi Len!”

Now that he’s standing in front of him, the man is definitely Jim – or at least looks like him. Same blond hair, same sunkissed skin, but none of the blue scales or fins.

“But – you—”

Jim gazes up at him with a wide smile that wrenches at his heart. His apparent joy at the sight of Leonard completely betrays the fact that  _he is not a merman anymore_.

“What are – what’s your name?”

“Jim.”

“No, your  _real_  name.”

Jim furrows his brow and then his mouth opens into a little ‘o’. He tells Leonard his real name – his  _merman_  name, the one he could never hope to pronounce correctly. “Why do you ask?”

“Just… making sure I haven’t lost it. Why do you have legs now?”

Jim shrugs. “I don’t know.”

“So you – this isn’t merman magic or something? You can’t turn back?”

“No. I think – I might be human now. It might be merman magic but... I can't turn back.”

Leonard gapes and tries to quell the rise of hope in his chest – it would be devastating to have a carrot dangled in front of him only for fate to wrench it away. “Let’s uh… let’s get you dried off and dressed; you’re shivering up a storm.”

“Oh yeah,” Jim says, teeth chattering. “I can’t stay in cold water for very long anymore.”

Leonard walks Jim back to his belongings with care – he’s about as able-bodied as a newborn foal right now, judging by how unwieldy his legs are. He may as well not have legs at all, for what good they’re doing. Once they’re on a mostly flat boulder, Leonard hands Jim a towel. “Here, dry yourself off.”

Jim starts patting himself dry while Leonard gets him a shirt. “Thank you, I’m feeling a bit warmer already.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. Close to moonrise, I told my family how upset I was about having to leave. My mother told me, ‘true love will find a way,’ and insisted I return. I wasn’t sure when to come see you; the dark water above makes it difficult to see the sun.” He points toward the clouds above.

“How long have you been here?”

“Um… perhaps a quarter sun? Hard to tell.”

“So what happened then?”

“When I reached the shore, my fins and scales disappeared and now I have these.” Jim slaps one of his legs, then stares at it with curiosity.

When Leonard finishes readying Jim’s clothing he brings the shirt in first, holding it open for him like he's ready to dress a child.

“Lift your arms.”

“Lift your arms.”

Jim complies and Leonard stuffs his arms in, wrestling it on until Jim is wearing a black shirt too large for him. Leonard’s pants are in the car a good half hour away by foot, so the towel wrapped around Jim’s legs will have to do. Hopefully the sun will come out and warm him up again – right now he’s too cold to be healthy, so Leonard sits behind him to spoon with him.

“So uh… how human are you now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well I – humans have certain… features that merpeople don’t, the men in particular.”

“Oh! I have fur now!” Jim exclaims, sounding positively joyful. He lifts the shirt and presses Leonard’s palm against his belly to rub through the hair now coating his torso. “Feel how soft it is!” He’s doing his best to look over his shoulder at Leonard, grinning sunny enough to make up for the overcast weather. “I had no idea having fur would be so… luxurious.”

That wasn’t a word Leonard had ever thought to use for body hair, but… it is quite soft. When he looks around Jim’s shoulder, he sees that it’s the same color as his blond hair, a good density, too. Luxurious certainly is a good fit.

On the other hand, having Jim between his arms, clearly now bipedal and covered in mammalian fur hammers home the fact that whatever is happening is really happening – his beloved Jim has become human.

“Well I also mean uh… between the legs.”

“Oh! Well, I have this now.” Jim pulls the towel away, revealing a thick cock and hefty balls – that’s definitely a shower, not a grower. “I’ve never seen anything like it, what is it for?”

Leonard chuckles and presses a kiss to Jim’s neck. “I’ll show you what it’s for later.” Leonard seats himself at Jim’s side to better look him in the eyes. “Are you – are you here? For good?”

“I don’t know,” Jim says, quiet but hopeful. “I think I am. I want to be…”

They lock eyes and Leonard takes a few moments to look into Jim’s, still just as beautiful a blue as ever, petting Jim’s arms as he does so. He desperately hopes Jim is here to stay with him. He cups Jim’s jaw and kisses him, deep and tender, startling himself with how passionate and needy it gets before he pulls away again. “I love you, Jim.”

“I love you too, Len.” Tears prickle at the corners of Leonard’s eyes, and he surges forward for another kiss. He’s interrupted by the loud sound of splashing in the distance. He parts from Jim and glances over to see a group of merpeople arc out of the water one by one. He’s not sure how many there are – he loses track after they start coming in groups. After the arcing stops, tens of fins rise out of the water and wave at them.

“Is that your family?”

“Some of them.” Jim waves back to them, and Leonard joins him. “The rest are friends and members of our commune.”

“What are they doing?”

Jim stops waving after they disappear beneath the waves once more. “Saying goodbye.”

Leonard feels a pang of remorse – he hasn’t made many friends since moving to San Francisco, and while he was willing to drop everything to be with Jim, he wouldn’t be leaving much of anything behind. Jim, however, was leaving dozens of merpeople – he was leaving everything.

“I guess I’m takin’ you away from them, aren’t I?”

“It’s okay.” Jim looks down at the boulder and folds his fingers in pensiveness. “I think they’ve known for a while, and were just keeping it from me.”

“Why would they do that?”

“They probably wanted to see if it was true love.”

“You must be real sad to be leavin’ them behind.”

“I’ll be sad for a few moons, but I have a different kind of love now.” He grips Leonard’s hand and threads their fingers together.

Leonard caresses Jim’s scruffy cheek – never could he have imagined that surfing that day so many months ago would lead to falling in love with a merman. “I love you. I – god I love you.”

“I’ve – never have I loved anyone quite like I do you.”

“Can I… take you home?”

“Well I can’t very well live here now, can I?”

Leonard chuckles and strokes down Jim’s back. “No, I suppose you can’t. Let’s get you to your new home. An’ if you don’t like it, we can always find a new place. Maybe a nice waterfront property.”

Jim cups his cheek and brings him in for a kiss. “That’d be nice.”


	8. Chapter 8

Helping Jim get to the car is a chore – he’s learning how to walk fairly quickly for someone who’s never taken a step in two decades, but he still clings to Leonard like a limpet. If he’s honest with himself, he enjoys the feeling of his no-longer-a-merman lover wrapped tight around him. It’s another reminder that what’s happening is actually happening and he gets to be with his… boyfriend? They’ll have to discuss labels later.

It takes an entire hour – an hour of Jim whining, struggling to keep his balance, and lots of Leonard’s breath being squeezed out of him as Jim hugs him from behind. The wet towel falls from around his legs on more than one occasion, only serving to lengthen the process. The wet coat and swimsuit certainly don’t help.

Finally they reach the parking lot. Leonard gets a few strange looks from having someone curled so tight around his midsection.

“What are those?” Jim asks.

“What’re what?”

“Those shiny colorful things.”

Jim lets go for a brief moment to point at a car.

“Oh, that’s a car. Uh, it… it’s like a… I don’t know, I’ll show you, and I’ll go slow too.”

“You’ll go slow?”

“We travel using them.”

Once they’re at Leonard’s car, Leonard sits Jim down in the passenger seat and buckles him in with care. “Okay, this is probably gonna be scary since you’ve never even seen a car before, but I’ll drive real careful, alright?”

“Drive? What does that mean?”

When Leonard starts the car, it startles Jim, who grabs his hand in confusion.

“Len, what’s going on?”

“It’s okay, Jim. You’re safe, I promise.”

Leonard drives – slow and careful, as he promised – away from the beach, using peaceful suburb roads to get home so Jim isn’t too freaked out. Jim's making that a little difficult with the death grip he currently has on Leonard's right hand. He sees Jim glancing at the street and back at his hands, trying to deduce how the contraption works. Once Jim loses interest in that and relaxes into the seat, he actually looks outside, watching where they’re going. They’re passing by gated communities filled with pristine manors maintained with painstaking scrupulousness and smaller homes that look lived-in rather than kept up for appearance.

Eventually they reach Leonard’s – a fairly simple flat – and he parks in the driveway. While he busies himself with hanging up his coat and putting the mask away in the garage, Jim fiddles with the seatbelt, trying to escape its restraint until Leonard pushes him back against the seat with a gentle touch. “Hold on, I gotcha.”

He releases Jim and lets him brace his weight around Leonard – more than once Jim relishes palming through his belly hair – while he unlocks the front door.

“I’ve never seen anything like any of this…”

Leonard chuckles and pats Jim’s hand. “I bet, and you’ll have a long time to explore.”

The flat is just as simple inside as it is outside. Leonard shows Jim the kitchen and lets him inspect all of the appliances one by one. He’ll have to go shopping for more fish – he’s sure Jim’s stomach won’t be able to handle much else. Introducing other things carefully is for the best.

Perhaps he should get Jim an allergy screening. Maybe a physical, though he’d have to do it himself – Lord knows letting someone else do it might be detrimental if they were to find something not normally present in human anatomy. The last thing Leonard wants is for his lover to become a science experiment.

The kitchen is part of the living room. Leonard introduces Jim to the couch, the TV, his collection of books – he’s probably gonna have to teach Jim to read – and then takes him into his bedroom, where he shows off the plush bed and other personal effects.

"I know it’s not much, but like I said, we can buy a new place if its not big enough. I know you’re probably used to wide open spaces but we can get a place on the waterfront."

"Let’s see how I adjust."

Next is the bathroom.

“So I dunno how you… relieve yourself… as a merman, but this,” Leonard points to the toilet. “Is how humans do it.”

Jim – still tight around him – stares at it. “How does it work?”

“Uh, I’ll show you later. For now, let’s wash up.” He starts the water and lets it heat up. “This isn’t seawater, so… it’s probably not quite what you’re used to.”

“That’s okay. I hope.”

Leonard removes Jim’s shirt and throws his towel in the hamper, leaving Jim buck naked. He’s surprisingly shameless of his own nudity, but then again living in the ocean for twenty-one years would probably do that to Leonard too. Jim’s eyes dart between himself and Leonard, comparing and contrasting their bodies. He brushes his palms along his belly and chest, exploring his new coat of hair.

When Leonard ditches his underwear, Jim exclaims “Oh, you have some too!”

“Fur?”

“No!” Jim points at Leonard’s penis, getting a chuckle out of him.

“Oh that. I promised to show you what it’s for, didn’t I?”

“I’d love to find out.”

Leonard grins and helps Jim into the shower with him, wrapping around him to wash his back. He leans into his lover when Jim curls his arms low around his waist. Rather than use a harsh soap, he uses his favorite shampoo – it’s completely organic and he hopes it’ll be gentle on Jim’s sensitive skin. Jim relaxes into him as Leonard washes salt and grime away, lavishing him with kisses to his neck and shoulders.

“I can’t believe you’re really here with me.”

“Neither can I. I thought I’d never see you again.”

Leonard washes lower and lower until he’s brushing his hands between the cheeks of Jim’s butt – which he’s sure Jim has a lot of questions about, too. He spins Jim around and washes his chest with a thoughtful, intimate touch, shamelessly petting him as he kisses the side of Jim’s head. His hands trail lower and lower along Jim’s belly, through the trail of thicker hair down the middle.

“I love you,” he murmurs, stroking through Jim’s sudsy fur.

“Len, something is happening.” Jim sounds panicked.

“What’s that?”

“Whatever this is has—”

Leonard looks around Jim’s shoulder to see that he has an erection. He chuckles and keeps kissing Jim’s neck. “Don’t worry, that’ll happen when you’re… uh, aroused.”

“What does that happen?”

“Well… doin’ somethin’ like this with someone you love will do it.”

“What do I do about it?”

Leonard lathers up more shampoo and grips Jim’s cock. “Well, I can do this.”

The first slow stroke makes Jim twitch between his arms. “Oh Fiddler’s Green, what was that?”

He kisses behind Jim’s ear. “Did you like it?”

“I – yeah, it felt – it feels amazing.”

Leonard strokes him for a few moments, just enjoying pleasuring his… mate? He really needs to ask about that. Jim flings his arms out to support himself with the tile wall while he stares at his dick slipping between Leonard’s fingers and the hand palming his hairy tummy. The most amazing sounds are floating from between his lips – moans and huffs of breath and intonations of ‘oh Poseidon that feels good,’ which kind of makes Leonard chuckle, but for reasons he's ashamed of.

As much as Leonard loves the feeling of a man in his arms and a lover’s cock in his hand, he wants Jim’s first orgasm to be more special than this. “Let’s finish up.”

When Leonard removes his hand from Jim’s cock, he sighs. “Aw, done so soon?”

They rinse off and Leonard towels Jim before giving him a bathrobe. After they’re both dry and robed, Leonard takes him to the bedroom, where they sit on the bed and exchange lazy kisses for a few minutes. Jim pulls away and gasps when he glances at something on the bureau.

“You kept it?”

Leonard turns to see that Jim’s looking at the seashell and shark tooth necklace mounted on a decorative holder. He turns back to Jim and sweetly kisses him, pouring his love into it. “Of course I kept it, it’s the most beautiful thing anyone’s ever made for me.”

“I didn’t know if you still had it.”

“Can I ask what it means?”

“Merpeople give gifts to a desired mate.”

“And if I accept?” He gives Jim a sly smile, but he doesn’t seem to notice.

“If they accept, it means the pair are to be mated.”

The smile widens into a splitting grin – Leonard is getting way ahead of himself, but he’s so happy at the prospect of being mated to Jim. “So I’m your mate?”

“Well, you accepted, but if – if you wanted to change your mi—”

Leonard interrupts him with a tender kiss and a stroke of his jaw. “Of course I wanna be your mate.”

Jim stares in disbelief before breaking into a wide, ecstatic grin and moisture collects at the corners of his eyes. “I love you, Len.”

“I love you too.”

Leonard guides Jim onto his back and opens the bathrobe – underneath him is one of the most beautiful men he’s ever seen and he’s  _mated_ to him. He’s also never had sex before, though Leonard never prescribed to the eroticism of taking a virgin. He presses kiss after kiss to Jim’s abdomen and licks into the soft hair coating him. The kisses trail lower and lower until he’s framing Jim’s hard cock with them.

“What are you doing?” Jim asks – it thankfully sounds more like curiosity.

“This is part of how I show you I love you.”

Jim heaved out a surprised breath when Leonard took his cock between his lips and started to suck. His hands fly to Leonard’s head and grip his hair with a light touch – if anything he seems to want to hold Leonard rather than control him.

Leonard treats Jim to everything he can – he hasn’t been with a man since college, but he still knows a thing or two about pleasing one. Jim twitches violently when Leonard mouths at the tip of his dick and laps up his precum; he gasps when Leonard slurps down his shaft; he sighs when Leonard cups his balls and rolls them between his fingers.

“Oh Len,” he moans. “Please don’t stop.”

Leonard locks eyes with him and sees Jim staring down at him, mouth wide open in pleasure as he licks at his dick. He pops off and nuzzles into the crook of Jim’s leg. “Jim,” he sighs before returning to slowly sucking Jim’s cock.

“Oh Len, oh  _Len_ , I love you too,” Jim murmurs when Leonard takes him all the way to the back of his throat. He swallows around the head and Jim grips his hair tighter. He huffs out noisy breaths and warm spurts of cum shoot over Leonard’s tongue to the back of his throat, Jim’s belly heaving with pleasure.

Jim probably has no idea what it means when Leonard swallows his semen, but from how his eyes are rolling into the back of his head he’s sure the other man enjoyed it. Leonard crawls up the bed to straddle Jim’s thighs and rub his belly while he comes down from the high.

“I don’t know what you just did,” Jim chokes out between heaving breaths. “But I loved it.”

Leonard hunches over Jim and exchanges languid, sloppy kisses with him. “That’s somethin’ people do when they love each other like we do.”

Jim pulls him in for another kiss. “You’ll have to show me how.”

“Maybe later, I jus’ wanna treat you for now.”

Leonard relishes the feeling of Jim under him – warm and muscular, hairy and  _human_. He trails his fingers ever so delicately over Jim’s chest and belly, kissing his face and pecs and lips. He’s so grateful that Jim is there with him – he wants to love and love and love until Jim understands just how much he means to him.

“Are you ready for the next part?”

“What’s the next part?”

“You’ll see.”

Leonard opens the bedside drawer and pulls out a bottle of lube usually used for himself, but today it’s for Jim too. He squirts some into his fingers and reaches behind to start pressing into himself. He makes quick work of stretching himself open, then slicks Jim up until he’s hard again. Leonard shifts up Jim’s body and lines him up so Jim has a good view of his cock disappearing inside Leonard.

Jim blows out a breath from the tight warmth of Leonard around him. “What’re you doing now?”

Leonard jerks a bit at the press of Jim against his prostate – he really hasn’t been with a man for a while. He smiles and strokes down Jim’s belly, fingers trailing down his treasure trail. “Another thing people do when they love each other.”

The first draw upward has Jim huffing out a breath. Leonard props Jim’s head up with a pillow so they can easily keep eye contact, and he starts a slow pace of thrusting up and down on Jim’s cock, filling and emptying himself. He rolls his hips and thrusts deep onto Jim, wanting to fill himself with Jim’s cum. He leans in and starts petting Jim.

“You’re so beautiful,” Leonard whispers. Jim does what he can to get his arms around Leonard and strokes down his back.

“Oh Len.” Jim doesn't last long the second time. It's only a few minutes of Leonard gently fucking himself and petting Jim before he's letting out a few wordless moans and tensing up underneath. Leonard grabs his jaw and crashes their lips together, pouring passion and desire into the kiss as Jim throbs inside him, emptying his load.

Jim is boneless underneath him as Leonard kisses him slow and soft. He looks deep into Jim’s beautiful blue eyes, lit up by the late afternoon light streaming through the gauzy curtains, and smiles wide as warm happiness fills his chest.

After a few minutes of languid kissing, Jim rears back. “Len, how can I show you I love you?”

Leonard reaches for the lube and uncaps it. “Lemme show you.” He smears lube all over Jim’s hand and curls the wet fingers around his cock. “This is gonna get a bit messy when you finish.”

"What do you – you mean like, more of that?" Jim thumbs at the slit of Leonard’s dick – precum has been leaking onto Jim’s belly since they started.

"Yeah. A lot is gonna come out."

Jim starts stroking – god, it’s been forever since someone has touched Leonard like this. Jim doesn’t even need to be told to go slow, and he’s copying when Leonard did in the shower. He leans in to trade kisses while his lover pleasures him.

"Oh Jim, that’s good," he moans.

Jim seems to enjoy the sounds Leonard is making, and as the tight coils of pleasure wind in his gut, Leonard barely has time to warn him.

"Jim, I’m gonna cum."

"You’re gonna what?"

Leonard clenches around him, shooting lines of cum onto Jim’s belly and making Jim start from the sudden stimulation. He pulses between Jim’s fingers until he’s spent, his load shot all over his mate.

"Len, what’s all this on me?" Jim stares down at the cum covering his belly.

"That’s…" How best to explain it? "It’s called cum. That’s what happens when two people who love each other do what we did."

"What’s it for?"

This is an awkward conversation. “Can I tell you later? I just – I just wanna kiss you.” He really isn’t sure how to explain how good it feels to have Jim’s cum inside him and in his belly.

"Okay. Do I leave it?"

"I’d like if you did, for a while, if – if you’re okay with that."

Jim stops asking questions down after that, opting to kiss and caress Leonard. Leonard takes the quiet moment to pet Jim and gaze into his eyes. He rears back – mostly to stop his back from aching – and Jim takes to playing with his belly fur.

"I do feel really loved," he murmurs.

Leonard gives him a tender kiss and smiles wide. “I’m really glad. That’s all I want you to know right now.”

"I feel like napping now, too."

Leonard gives a tiny, self-satisfied smirk. “Okay.”

He pulls Jim out of him and uses some tissue to clean his dick off, then lays down next to him. Jim wraps around him, mindless of the cum coating him, smearing it between them. Leonard pulls him in tight and draws a blanket up over them, cocooning them in warmth and the smell of sex.

"Len?"

"Yeah?"

"I think what we just did sealed our mating."

"You ‘think’?"

"I can  _feel_  how you feel for me – it’s a wonderful, colorful warmth in my chest.

Leonard feels something too, though he had chalked it up to afterglow. He’s not sure what Jim means by ‘colorful’ – maybe it’s another merman idiosyncrasy – but it’s definitely much stronger than the affection he felt before, above and beyond the normal, mundane bond men form when they make slow, sweet love.

"I feel it too."

"Um, merpeople mate for life, if – I hope you—"

Leonard kisses him to stop his self doubts. “Humans do too, Jim. For life sounds good to me.”

As Jim holds him tighter and burrows into his shoulder, face splitting into a happy grin, for life sounds wonderful.

It wouldn’t be easy, since Jim is from a whole different world, but they have a lot of time now to take it day by day.


End file.
